“Thanks.” Helen handed her the wad of clothing. “This is my first meet without my coach and I guess I’m a bit on the ragged edge.”
“You’ll be fine. Good luck,” Betty called.
Helen ran toward her start, but called to Betty. “And yes, I’ll run the relay with you. I’ve never been on a team before.” She grinned and leapt over a hurdle on the side of the track, revealing a long and easy stride that could have easily measured seven or eight feet long.
Betty shook her head in admiration. She pitied Helen’s opponents.
BETTY FOUND A spot on the sideline where she could sit and stretch but still have a good view of the races on the track. Tidye and Caroline left periodically for their races, but Betty’s only race was the last one of the evening, so she had several hours to think about the relay.
She kept an eye on the results of Helen’s preliminary heats. Sure enough, the girl from Missouri won everything and earned herself a spot in the finals in the 50-yard dash and the 100-yard and 200-yard sprints. Betty liked their chances for the relay. Helen appeared, pushing through the crowd, and found Betty sitting with her friends.
“Here she is, our anchor! You made easy work of all of your races tonight. Well done,” Betty cheered before introducing Helen to Tidye and Caroline.
“Thanks. So I’ve never run a relay before. What do I need to know?” Helen asked.
“We don’t have much time, but let’s go outside to the sidewalk, so we can show you how the transitions work,” Betty said, leading her teammates through the spectators and the front door of the armory. “Caroline, do you have the baton and chalk?”
“I do.” Caroline handed Betty the baton while she took several long paces to measure the relay’s transition distance and marked the starting and finishing lines with chalk on the sidewalk. When she finished, Betty explained the strict rules surrounding baton hand-offs.
“The first thing to know is that you have to stay calm and trust your teammates. It’s when runners allow pressure and anxiety to get to them that there are problems, but with some practice, you’ll be fine. Look, Caroline and I will demonstrate. I’ll be you, Helen. Start here and take a few steps to get momentum. As Caroline approaches, she’ll call ‘Up!’ and you will reach back with your left hand, palm open. Like this,” Betty said, going through all the motions with Caroline.
“You don’t look backward to see where the baton is? You just look ahead?” Helen asked, frowning.
“Yes, trust Caroline,” said Betty. “You have nice big hands so it shouldn’t be a problem. Just open your palm wide and be ready to feel the baton. When you’ve got it, seize it and run. You’re our last runner so you won’t have to hand it to anyone. All you need to practice is receiving it. How about you two give it a try?”
Betty and Tidye stepped aside and let the two other women practice. On their first run, Helen fumbled the baton and dropped it.
“Sorry,” she said, lifting it from the sidewalk with an embarrassed grin on her face.
“We can try it again, don’t worry,” said Caroline. “It’s dark out here so that makes it difficult.”
It took the women several more tries to pass it off smoothly, but Betty noticed Helen was struggling to stay within the regulation zone when taking the baton.
“Helen, you’ve got long strides so you’re going to have to be careful. Do it quickly,” Betty urged.
“I’m having trouble not looking back to see where it is,” Helen confessed. “And it feels awkward to hold it in my left hand.”
“That’s understandable, but you’ll get used to it,” Betty called out as they took position to try again.
After several more unsuccessful hand-offs, Caroline shot a frustrated look at Betty. “Isn’t it time to head back for the individual finals?” she asked.
Betty feigned a glance at her watch. No matter what time it said, she knew they were done. “Yes, we should go inside.”
“These relays always look a lot easier than they actually are.” Helen wiped her hand across her forehead. “What if I can’t do this?”
“Don’t worry, even if you have to start running from a standstill, you’re fast enough to make it up and we’ll be fine. Just try not to drop it,” Caroline answered.
Helen bit her lip. “I’m going inside to get ready for my finals.”
“Good luck,” Betty and the others called as Helen hurried away.
Tidye tapped on Betty’s arm. “Why’s this proving so hard? Hand-offs are always tricky, but maybe we’ve made the wrong choice with her. Maybe she’s better on her own.”
Betty smiled, hoping she didn’t look as anxious as she felt. “She’ll be fine. It’ll be easier inside, where the lighting is better.” She forced a laugh. “And I’ve worked too hard to be denied advancement now. We’ll do it.”
Tidye turned to head to the locker room, but she hesitated. “It’s never too late for them to deny us advancement. You understand that, right?”
Betty fought the urge to sigh and tried to sound upbeat. She knew what had happened in Los Angeles with the relay. “We’ll be fine. Really. Helen can do this.”
Tidye’s expression remained dubious, but she nodded and walked away.
Betty settled on a bench next to the track and twisted her wristwatch up and down her forearm as she watched Caroline meet with the other hurdlers in preparation for their upcoming heat. She needed the relay to go well. It was her only event, and AAU officials would be watching the results closely.
HELEN REGRETTED HER agreement to run the relay. After she left Betty and the other girls outside, she assembled with the finalists of the 50-yard dash and tried to push her thoughts of the disastrous outdoor practice runs from her mind so she could focus on the races ahead.
During the first few steps of her 50-yard-dash final, she nearly tripped but still managed to win, though it was closer than it should have been.
Her 100-yard and 200-yard races went better and she won both, but she couldn’t shake the sense of feeling jittery and off-pace.
Normally she would have been delighted with her victories, but with the relay approaching, all she felt was dread. When she was racing by herself, she knew she could win, but why was she so bad at the relay? Maybe it was the pesky baton’s fault; it felt odd to carry anything extra when she ran. She liked the freedom of feeling light and unencumbered, but she had told the girls she would do it so she had no other choice.
By the side of the track, Helen spotted Betty stretching and her stomach twisted with anxiety. She had admired Betty for so long and had been so excited to meet her. What if she disappointed her?
Betty was even prettier in real life than she looked in the newspapers, but it certainly wasn’t a classic type of beauty that made her attractive. Her chin was pointy and her smile was even a bit crooked, yet her blue eyes sparkled and her smile had an unexpected power, a way of making you feel like you were the best of friends after only seconds of meeting. Betty had a field of gravity wholly unto herself, and Helen was being pulled into her orbit. And it wasn’t a bad feeling. Truth be told, Helen felt a little shaky upon meeting Betty; yes, part of that came from being intimidated, but mostly it was the type of shaky that came over her when she was thrilled.